JAPAN: Japan has posted its fifth consecutive annual trade deficit, highlighting ongoing pressure on the world’s third-largest economy. Rising import costs especially for energy and raw materials have continued to outweigh export growth. A weaker yen has made imports more expensive, squeezing businesses and households alike. While exports to some markets improved, they were not [...]

JAPAN: According to data from the National Police Agency, more than half of the reported cases of explicit deepfakes targeting individuals under 18 in Japan involved students from the same schools as the victims. This marks the first time the NPA has shared information about minors who have fallen victim to inappropriate fake images created [...]

JAPAN: The coast guards of China and Japan have reported different versions of an encounter that took place near a group of islands in the East China Sea, which are important for both countries. On Tuesday, China's Coast Guard stated that a Japanese fishing boat had entered the waters around the Diaoyu Islands, known as [...]

JAPAN: Representatives and members of organizations that support foreign nationals in Japan held a rally inside a Tokyo parliament building to protest against xenophobia and the efforts to impose stricter rules on foreigners. The participants, which included the Solidarity Network with Migrants Japan, a nonprofit organization, released a statement demanding the creation of a basic [...]

JAPAN: Komeito's exit from the ruling coalition has added more uncertainty to Japan's political scene, with focus now shifting to the prime minister selection vote that is set to happen in the Diet next week. Koichi, the new president of the Liberal Democratic Party, is aiming for the top position, and the result will rely [...]

JAPAN: A powerful typhoon brought heavy rain to a group of Japanese islands located south of Tokyo, prompting the government to warn people about possible landslides and flooding. According to Kyodo News Agency, some areas in the Izu island chain, which is 280 kilometers from Tokyo, experienced record rainfall of around 207 millimeters. Many [...]

JAPAN: The governments of Japan and South Korea are close to finalizing a deal that would allow their defense ministers to visit each other and have regular talks between defense officials, according to The Yomiuri Shimbun. Defense Minister Gen Nakatani is thinking about traveling to South Korea early this month for discussions with his South [...]

JAPAN: Japanese narcotics agents have taken 1.046 tons of cannabis, valued at around 5.2 billion yen ($35 million), in the biggest single drug bust in Japan's history. The Narcotics Control Department of the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare arrested three Vietnamese nationals for supposedly smuggling the cannabis, which was hidden in a shipping container [...]